


Fracture

by zeejayblue



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Broken Bones, Drabble and a Half, Female Pidge | Katie Holt, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Injury, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Whump, M/M, Off-Season, Whump, coran is the team medic, keith is v protective and supportive wow i love him, lance broke his arm oh dear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 15:15:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12279081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zeejayblue/pseuds/zeejayblue
Summary: During his solo training, Lance stumbles, and his left arm catches his fall.





	Fracture

**Author's Note:**

> descriptions of broken bones ahead! if that triggers you/makes you queasy i suggest you stop reading/read at your own risk!

          Lance had decided to train on his day off, despite Allura’s persistent protests. He was a few training levels behind everyone else, and wanted to take the time to catch up. They’re fighting a war to protect the entire universe; that’s something you need to train heavily for. Lance didn’t want to hinder the team, so he decided to pick up right where he left off on his training- level fourteen.

          Lance decided to do a couple rounds without his bayard. He needed some training in hand-to-hand combat, anyways. The training bot appeared in front of him and he readied himself, cracking his knuckles and stretching his limbs.

          Lance has swift reflexes, making it easier to dodge what could be a deadly blow if he couldn’t fight back. The training bot’s AI predicted Lance’s response after a couple attempts and eventually took a swipe at Lance’s legs, which caused him to tumble. He groaned and rubbed his back; Lance regretted not wearing his armor this time around.

          Lance got back up and lunged at the bot’s legs, causing it to crumble to the floor. It took a second to stand back up, and Lance took this time to dust himself off and ready himself again. The bot stood up and searched for Lance, whipping around in circles until it could find him. As soon as it did, it aimed for Lance’s torso to knock his whole body over, but Lance deftly jumped aside and smirked as the bot tumbled to the floor. His hand-to-hand combat could use some work, but he was improving faster than he thought he would.

          The bot thought of a different strategy to take down Lance this time. Lance couldn’t predict what it was doing very well, but he was watching it closely. The bot’s eyes locked on Lance’s legs, and then looked Lance in the eye. Lance had no idea what that meant, but he had a feeling he was completely unprepared and that it wouldn’t be fun.

          The bot ran behind Lance and swiped its leg across Lance’s calves, causing him to tumble forward. He fell forward  _ hard.  _ Lance flinched as he anticipated the fall. However, he didn’t anticipate the sickening crack that came after.

          The sound came from his arm. Lance took a second to register that something snapped, and it was definitely a bone. Lance immediately felt queasy as he slowly sat up. His stomach twisted as he looked at his left arm. It was bent in ways that a bone should not be bent in. The bone was even sticking up a little, creating a bump on his arm.

          He looked back up and saw the bot was still there, looking down at him. Realizing that he was still training, he shakily called for the training sequence to end, and the bot disappeared. Lance sighed in relief when the bot faded away, but then the full severity of his injury kicked in. 

          Lance had no doubt that his arm was broken.

          The pain was _ excruciating.  _ It was so bad, that Lance had to focus on breathing so he wouldn’t stop. He felt nauseous, and so incredibly dizzy that he was sure he would pass out. A loud, pained groan escaped his lips, and he felt like the room was swirling around him.

          Keith had been walking down the hall to train as well, and heard a groan coming from the training room. Keith stepped in, and immediately grew concerned when he saw Lance on the ground, cautiously clutching his arm and clenching his teeth.

          “Lance?” Keith called, worry filling his voice. Lance didn’t even move. He  _ couldn’t _ move. Lance was concentrating so hard on not screaming, that he couldn’t even reply. The dizziness that had been bad a couple seconds ago was now so much worse. Lance was sure that he was swaying back and forth like a boat on the ocean in a rainstorm.

           Lance took a shaky breath, and then his body went limp as his torso landed on the floor. Keith felt his stomach churn when he saw Lance’s left arm sort of flop when he went down. Keith worriedly rushed to Lance’s side, studying the injury as best he could without moving it.

          After looking it over, Keith was one-hundred percent sure that the bone was broken. Keith noticed it was sticking up a little, creating a sickening bump in Lance’s arm. The skin surrounding the bone was starting to swell, and Keith felt his own arm hurt in sympathy. 

          After about thirty seconds or so, Lance’s eyes fluttered open again.  As soon as he regained consciousness, his face contorted in pain and he groaned again. Lance tried to sit up, but Keith urged him not to move.

          “Keith? When did… you get here?” Lance questioned with a pained expression.

          “Right before you passed out,” Keith explained, adjusting his own legs so he was more comfortable. Lance took a deep, shaky breath and exhaled.

          “I passed out?” Lance queried. Keith nodded and his eyes darted to Lance’s left arm.

          “I’m pretty sure you broke it,” Keith winced, looking at the misplaced bone once more. It was like roadkill; awful to see, but Keith couldn’t bring himself to look away. His own stomach churned in sympathy for the blue paladin. Keith couldn’t imagine how much a broken bone like that would hurt.

          “It hurts,” Lance whimpered. Keith frowned.

          “I know it does,” Keith comforted, slowly rubbing circles on Lance’s right hand. It made Keith sad to see someone he cared about so deeply in so much pain.

          “I’m gonna get Coran, don’t move a muscle,” Keith instructed. Lance painfully nodded, and exhaled as Keith stood up and ran out of the room. Lance opened his eyes to study his own arm, but the pain increased exponentially when he saw how bad it looked. Lance felt woozy again and decided keeping his eyes shut would be best for now.

          “He’s in here,” Keith’s firm yet concerned voice called from outside the training room. Lance’s eyes were squinted shut, but he could hear both pairs of footsteps run inside. Lance heard a gasp and figured it was Coran.

          “Holy  _ quiznak _ ,” Coran swore aloud, crouching down to get a better look at the injury. Coran sucked in some air with gritted teeth to make a wincing noise. 

          “Gol _ ly _ ,” Coran exclaimed, still looking at Lance’s injured arm. Lance made a low groan and he shakily exhaled, unsure of how much longer he could handle the pain without passing out again.

          “What in the world did you  _ do? _ ” Coran queried rhetorically. Lance swallowed and inhaled, preparing to speak.

          “Training… I fell forward,” Lance got out, feeling something rise in his throat. He gulped down the bile and sighed before continuing his reply.

          “My arm… caught my fall,” Lance’s sentence stopped short when he audibly gagged. Lance’s right fist flew to his lips, and his eyes opened. Lance swallowed again and felt his body break out in goosebumps. The room suddenly felt very cold, and Lance felt his limbs quiver. 

          “Oh my… Can you stand? I need to get you to the infirmary,” Coran urged. Lance swallowed down more bile and nodded, using his right arm to help himself stand up.

          As soon as Lance started to rise from the floor, he felt himself sway as dizziness nearly bowled him over. Keith and Coran rushed to either side of him, holding him up to walk to the infirmary. Keith carefully adjusted Lance’s hurt arm, very careful not to hurt the blue paladin further. 

          “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know,” Keith soothed when Lance winced. Lance finally opened his eyes and blearily looked around the room. Coran, Keith and Lance reached the common room on the way to the infirmary, catching the attention of the rest of the paladins.

          Lance could barely focus on anything that was being said. He heard some concerned mumbling about his arm from each of the paladins, but Lance was in too much pain to focus on anything else but breathing; he almost forgot to a few times on the way over.

          Keith watched cautiously as Coran urged Lance onto the infirmary bed. Coran grabbed a machine that Keith guessed was an X-ray. It looked a bit on the small side for an X-ray, but Keith had to remember that Altean technology is far more advanced than Earth technology. Keith huffed and tapped his foot.

          “Why can’t you just put him into a healing pod? That’s much faster, isn’t it?” Keith suggested protectively. Lance looked from Keith to Coran. Coran sighed as he stood up, eyeing the X-ray results. 

          “They’re down for maintenance,” Coran explained, setting the small machine aside. “They’re long overdue for an update.”

          “Just as I suspected when I first saw; it’s broken,” Coran announced after glancing at the X-ray results again. All the paladins winced in sympathy.

        “Why did you get an X-ray if you knew it was broken just by looking at it?” Keith queried impatiently.

          “Keith, Coran’s just trying to help,” Lance managed. Keith’s protective glance softened when he looked to the blue paladin, but hardened again when he looked back to Coran.

          “I need to see how and where the bone broke before I start treating it,” Coran explained. Keith shifted his weight on his feet before sitting down in a chair next to Lance’s bed.

          “I’ve got some pain meds in there for you,” Coran stated. Lance nodded and his face slowly relaxed as the meds kicked in. The pain was still there, but it was much less intense that it was before.

          “Feeling a little better?” Keith asked Lance, his voice soft. Lance shrugged and lazily rolled his head over to look at the red paladin. Lance locked eyes with Keith for a second and blushed when he noticed Keith’s soft, fond expression. Both boys sheepishly looked away as Coran grabbed some casting material and set it down on a table beside Lance’s bed. Lance’s right hand grabbed Keith’s hand and squeezed it. Shocked, Keith froze, but returned the gesture.

          “This is gonna hurt even with pain meds, but I have to set the bone back in place,” Coran advised. Lance looked to Keith with worried eyes. Keith squeezed Lance’s hand reassuringly and nodded. Lance gulped and turned his head to look up at the ceiling.

          Coran snapped Lance’s arm back with some force, causing Lance to scream loudly. The paladins cringed; Keith cringed the most as he lost feeling in the hand Lance was squeezing for comfort. Lance’s screams eventually subsided into pained groans as the pain meds fully kicked in. Keith rubbed Lance’s hand and Lance looked to the red paladin with a slightly pained expression.

          “That almost hurt as bad as it did when I broke it,” Lance whimpered with a small chuckle. The other paladins chuckled lightly as Coran readied the casting materials.

          “I chose blue! I figured you wouldn’t mind,” Coran offered. Lance smiled lightly and cringed a little as Coran plastered his left arm. The extreme pain had finally subsided into a dull ache thanks to the pain meds. It felt better, but it still didn’t feel good. Coran wrapped the blue fiberglass around the plaster to further immobilise Lance’s arm. The process was short, and Lance studied his cast once Coran was finished.

          “It’s my new weapon,” Lance chuckled lightly as he slowly lifted his arm, making a gentle whacking gesture and smiling a little when the other paladins laughed. Coran handed Lance a pen, and Lance handed it to Keith.

          “Sign it,” Lance urged with a small smile. Keith smiled and signed his name with a small heart next to it. Lance blushed lightly as he admired Keith’s signature. Keith passed the pen around the room and each paladin signed his cast. Allura and Coran signed it as well.

           “I want to keep you here overnight, just to be sure the cast won’t cause any problems. Better safe than sorry,” Coran advised. Lance nodded and sighed.

          “Didn’t I tell you not to train today?” Allura queried jokingly. Lance made a guilty expression.

          “I wanted to catch up, I’m like, five levels behind everyone else,” Lance reasoned. Allura sighed solemnly.

          “You need a break,” She pointed out.

          “Well, here I am,” Lance replied with a chuckle.

          “This isn’t how I wanted you to take a break,” Allura replied. Lance guiltily shrugged.

          “Refrain from physical activity or training of any sort for the next week. Starting tomorrow, you’re free to roam about the castle as you normally do,” Coran instructed. 

          “How long am I gonna have a clubby arm?” Lance questioned. Keith snorted and Lance glared at him.

          “What’s so funny?” Lance questioned with a small smile on his face. Keith audibly laughed and Lance felt warmth rise in his chest for some reason. It was probably just the pain meds making him feel a little loopy.

          “‘Clubby’,” Keith chortled. Lance laughed as well, and after a few seconds their laughter subsided.

          “No, for real, how long am I gonna have to deal with this?” Lance sighed, glancing at his casted arm.

          “‘Clubby arm’,” Keith whispered to himself while holding back laughter.

          “If you don’t shut up I  _ swear, _ ” Lance threatened affectionately. 

          “You’ll have to deal with your, ahem,  _ ‘clubby arm’, _ for six weeks,” Coran advised. Lance groaned loudly and dramatically.

          “ _ Six? _ That’s a lot of weeks,” Lance complained.

          “I know it is, but that’s how long it takes for a bone to heal properly,” Coran replied with a frown. Lance frumped in his spot, sticking out his lips in an exaggerated pout.

          “I gotta stay here overnight too?” Lance whined. 

          “Yes indeedy,” Coran replied in a sing-song voice.

          “It’s better than staying here for a week,” Coran pointed out. “If I had to operate to set the bone - which you’re lucky I didn’t have to - you’d be in here for around a week, and you wouldn’t be able to train for over a month.”

          “Oh,” Lance replied with wide eyes. Coran nodded and adjusted his mustache.

          “You got the easy route,” Coran observed. Before anyone could speak, everyone heard a stomach growl. Everyone’s eyes darted to the source of the sound, and Pidge widened her eyes.

          “Sorry, I’m hungry,” She apologized with a sheepish smile.

          “Me too, now that I think about it,” Shiro added. Everyone nodded and muttered their agreements.

          “I can whip something up real quick, we can eat a late dinner,” Hunk offered. Everyone excitedly agreed and Keith looked to Lance as everyone began to file out the door.

          “I’ll be back, okay?” Keith assured. Lance nodded and blushed when Keith squeezed Lance’s hand once more before letting it go. Keith looked behind his shoulder one final time as he went down the hallway.

          Lance sighed as he laid back in the infirmary bed. If we was gonna be spending the night here, he might as well get comfy, right? 

          The infirmary room was silent other than the quiet beeping of machines. Lance looked to his cast again to read all the signatures. He smiled softly looking at Keith’s. Lance was drawn out of his thoughts as Coran stood up.

          “I’m gonna go check on the healing pods, see if there’s any new problems with the maintenance,” Coran explained. “Sometimes they have issues during updates.”

          “Gotcha,” Lance replied, starting to feel a little drained as the pain meds made him drowsy. Coran nodded and walked out of the room.

          Lance sighed as he pulled the bed sheets up closer to his chin. Lance scooted down the bed and laid his head on the pillow. The infirmary bed was surprisingly comfortable; almost more comfortable than his own bed.

          As soon as every person and every noise was absent, exhaustion caught up to Lance and he slowly drifted off to sleep. Coran came back a few minutes later and noticed Lance was asleep, and decided to eat a late dinner with the other paladins as to not bother Lance and let him rest a bit.

          Keith set his plate down in the kitchen and slowly made his way to the infirmary with the intent to visit Lance before settling down in his room for the night. Coran was typing something on the computer, and Lance was asleep in the infirmary bed.

          Coran turned around and hopped out of the computer chair, walking over to Keith. Keith glanced at Lance one more time before looking to Coran.

          “What’s up? Somethin’ you need?” Coran quiered. Keith shrugged. Lance, who was barely asleep, woke up after hearing voices but didn’t move much.

          “I just… wanted to say goodnight to Lance before I went back to my room,” Keith explained. 

          “I can… come back later,” Keith trailed off. Coran glanced back to the bed when he heard the sheets rustle. Lance had woken up.

          “Oh, sorry, did we wake you?” Coran questioned. Lance shook his head and yawned.

          “Keith wanted to stop by before he went to his room for the night,” Coran informed.

          “I’ll leave you two be, I should probably help Allura with the dishes anyway,” Coran finished, promptly leaving the room. Lance looked to Keith as he slowly made his way over to his bed, sitting down on the chair and grabbing Lance’s right hand in his. 

          “Feeling any better?” Keith questioned, his voice soft. Lance nodded.

          “Good,” Keith replied with a fond smile. Lance blushed and returned the smile. 

          “I… like the heart you drew,” Lance stated awkwardly, lifting his casted arm and pointing to where Keith had signed his name earlier. 

          “You have really nice handwriting, too,” Lance complimented. Not knowing how to reply, Keith just smiled as his cheeks flushed a shade of pink.

          “I should go, you need to sleep,” Keith stated suddenly after a short silence. Keith leaned over the gap between the chair and the bed and gently pressed his lips to Lance’s cheek. Keith then stood up and walked over to the door, stopping to look back before he left.

          “Sleep well, okay?” Keith questioned with a smile, his face nearly red from blushing so much. Lance, whose face was just as red, nodded with a smile so wide it almost hurt his cheeks.

          Lance touched his cheek with his right hand, and sighed happily. He laid back in bed, his face warm and red. Lance felt exhaustion come back around, and his eyes fluttered shut, allowing him to finally rest after the day’s events.

**Author's Note:**

> WOWIE i've never written a broken bone whump before??  
> also my ADHD brain went on a tangent on the klance a lil bit so i apologize if the ending makes no sense but i love my boys a heckle lot  
> keith is a sweetie i luff him okay


End file.
